Memorial
by Richard Nagato
Summary: A war rages in Japan and the Tamers are caught within.


I do not own Digimon or any of its contents.  
  
  


~*~ **Memorial** ~*~

  
  
A young girl walked down the streets of a devastated city. She walked slowly, surveying the damaged buildings. This had used to be the shopping district, but since food and anything else had been rationed by the military administration the area was deserted. One of the buildings still burned. The fire fighters had retreated when they had been sure the shop would burn out without doing further damage to surrounding structures.  
  
As the girl walked on she approached the adjacent park. Most of the cherry trees were burned, but some were as beautiful as ever.  
She enjoyed their beauty. As she passed by the castle she saw her final destination - the Industrial Promotion Hall.  
The girls red hair danced in the wind.  
  
"Ruki, wait for me." A boy, a few years older shouted.  
The boy's hair was hardly affected by the wind.  
"Hello Ryo." Ruki said staying in a world of her own. Her view wandered from the trees to the boy that caught up with her, then to the sun that slowly rose behind her and then to the Industrial Promotion Hall.  
  
Both walked on, till they approached some of their friends.  
"Hello Takato, Jenrya, Juri." Ryo said, looking at the sombre faces of his friends. This was not the time being happy. It was the time of a terrible war. The only thing that gave them solace was the fact that they were still alive.  
Many had not so much luck. Hirokazu, Kenta - they were all dead.  
A bomb destroyed the school. They didn't make it to the air-raid shelter.  
  
Ruki had lost so many people she liked in this war.  
Her father, he had died in an air assault he led. It had been three years, one month, twenty-nine days ago. He stepped out of her life on this fateful Saturday.  
She memorized the letter he had written for the case of his death.  
  
Dearest Rumiko,  
When you receive this letter it means I'm dead.  
I'm sorry. I wanted to spend my life with you and I wanted to see our daughter grow up.  
Keep in mind that there is one thing that gives you solace, I died in defence of our beloved native country.  
I just want you to know that I love you and our daughter Ruki.  
Commander of Japanese Air Force Makino  
  
Ruki blocked out reality whenever she thought about the letter.  
Ryo waved his hand in front of her face to bring her back.  
"Ruki." He said, finally breaking her trance.  
She grabbed his wrist, pushed him away and was just about to punch his abdomen when she realized that it was Ryo and not a threat. They all shared the same fate, how could she punch him. She stared at him confused. The others looked at her worried as they realised what she'd been about to do.  
  
She set up a smile to block out her memory.  
"Let's play catch." She said to find some solace in being together with her friends.  
"You are it." She said touching Ryo. Everyone ran away.  
They played about half an hour. The scene didn't looked like a war torn city. That was one of the few moments in which they were still children.  
  
Suddenly the alarm started. They did what they learned in school, before it was destroyed.  
Although the Industrial Promotion Hall was never bombed, the kids took cover under a massive stone bridge, the Aioi Bridge.  
They heard the impacts of the bombs in the centre of the city.  
  
As the alarm faded they came out again. Their parents had told them to come home after an air raid to check that they are still alive.  
Ruki walked along one of the buildings in the centre of the city that had been bombed.  
A man in uniform walked to her.  
"You mustn't walk here!" He shouted pushing her ungentle away from the still burning building.  
"Yes, Sir." She said, remembering this man only too well.  
"Commander Yamaki, the fire-fighters have arrived." A woman shouted.  
The man was the commander of the local air defence, Yamaki Mitsuo, but since this were hard times he had to coordinated the fire-fighters, the police and the medical emergency duty as well.  
  
He was unable to maintain the cities air defence. Many fighters were shoot down. He did all he could, but he had not half the fighters he needed to provide an effective air space protection. Many of the pilots were good friends of him. He suffered the same fate as everyone else in the city.  
  
She had to remember the scene when the school was destroyed. She and the other survivors just had left the school as the alarm started. The bomb struck less then a minute later.  
Commander Yamaki had been there in five minutes, but the fire-fighter had rescued just 10 of over 400 pupils.  
"No more survivors. We're done here." This statement of Commander Yamaki was engraved in her mind.  
  
His assistant, Miss Ootori, looked at the young girl that stared almost apathetic at the burning building.  
"You are Ruki, aren't you?" She finally asked, remembering to have seen the lethargic stare before.  
Ruki nodded not even looking at Reika.  
"No more survivors. We're done here." This statement once again made by Commander Yamaki brought her back to reality. Ruki stared at Reika, because she didn't consciously notice that Reika approached her.  
"Shall I accompany you on your way home?" Reika asked, smiling, but worried about the young girl that seemed to slowly slide out of this world by the destruction around her.  
  
On their way were many destroyed buildings.  
"Why is he so cruel?" Ruki suddenly asked. She stopped and faced Reika.  
Reika stopped and raised an eyebrow. She faced Ruki.  
"What do you mean?" Reika asked shocked. How could Ruki claim that the only person that kept life normal, at least to a certain degree, was cruel?  
"He ordered the fire fighter to stop searching my friends, he was the man, who sent my father to death." Ruki shouted breathing hard.  
In fact the man who drafted Ruki's father was not Commander Yamaki, but he wore a similar uniform.  
A single tear crossed Ruki's face as she ran away.  
Reika stared after her. Reika knew that Yamaki just tried to organize the very limited resources he had, as good as possible, but she knew that Ruki wouldn't understand.  
  
As Ruki arrived at home Rumiko already expected her. Rumiko gave her a tight hug.  
When Ruki had wanted to keep up her strong façade, she would have refused this, but you can't show strength all the time when you feel so weak, helpless, defenceless.  
  
Ruki had tried to deal with her losses on her own, but it nearly had driven her insane.  
It began after her father had died. She had refused to leave her room for days. She had wanted to sort out things on her own. Her grandmother Seiko had talked to Ruki, with little success.  
In desperation Seiko had hugged her granddaughter also she had known, that Ruki most likely pushes her away, but unlike that Ruki had started to burst into tears. Her façade had been broken.  
  
"How is grandmother?" Ruki asked worried. Seiko was in a bad condition and was in one of the crowded and understaffed hospitals.  
"She still holds out, but if the medicine arrives not within the next days … " Rumiko said. She stopped at this point, for Ruki's gaze made perfectly clear she got the consequences.  
"I go to my shift now. You'll be all right?" Rumiko asked, already knowing her daughters answer.  
"Sure." Ruki said, feeling the necessity of what her mother was doing.  
Rumiko had volunteered for medical service when the war began, for she expected not a single commission and she was right.  
  
Once again Ruki was all alone. After the loss of her father, Seiko had suggested Ruki to start drawing and so she had done. The scarcity of paper and crayons, just made her draw more intensively. She sometimes took hours just to figure out how to draw a single line.  
  
She had several favourite themes.  
When she was in a good mood she drew flowering cherry trees.  
Whenever Ruki was scared she drew her father. There was one image of him in her mind that stayed. Her father wore a heavy Samurai amour. Also he looked very frightening Ruki was never afraid of him. She had known that he would use his wrath never against her, but against all those who attempted to hurt her. She had thought he was invulnerable.  
When she was in a really bad mood she drew Commander Yamaki surrounded by flames or burning buildings.  
She had a very good memory so she remembered every detail of her favourite themes.  
She memorized every detail of Yamaki and his uniform.  
His eyes, his nose, his hair, his chin, his ears. His hat with several golden markings. His uniform with all its stars, lines and decorations.  
  
She drew at this time a new picture of her father. Although it had been over four years ago, she remembered everything of her father and the armour. The knobbed helmet, the cuirass, the armoured sleeves. He had been just about to draw his sword and looked really terrifying.  
She drew his face, his rather big nose, dark blue eyes, moustache and his mouth had made him look very angry and yet protective. Ruki's father had much self-control. He never had smiled or cried or showed signs of anger or pride if he hadn't wanted and yet he had shown his emotions especially to reassure Ruki in following her individual course. She since ever wanted to be like him. She adored her father's self-control and had tried to adopt every single nuance of it.  
  
Although she drew her main subjects as accurate as possible, she used to glorify the background. In her father's case she added the Fuji-san with its snow-covered top and the red rising sun emitting some beams.  
  
She drew till her mother returned for lunch. They had nothing more than rice to satisfy their hunger. It was enough to live, but not a single grain more. In comparison to the situation in the cities the situations in the country was even worse.  
  
After they had lunch Ruki walked to the harbour. The cruiser Naniwa had ridden at anchor since about two weeks. Ruki had watched it when it had arrived nearly destroyed, several engines had failed, leaks had been on almost every deck. On this day the Naniwa was deployed again. She had seen the many dead navy soldiers that had been carried away from the Naniwa after it arrived. Many new recruits, some of them only just 18 years old, manned the Naniwa. They were desperate, but determined to protect their beloved native country, to protect Japan.  
As the Naniwa left the harbour, they played Kimigayo as a light of hope in such dark days.  
  
The sun was about to set, when she was on her way home. She fell asleep immediately.  
In the night were several air raids, but Ruki didn't noticed. She got somehow used to it. She didn't dreamed as well. Somehow she managed to block out all the unpleasant images.  
  
She woke up the next morning, when the sun was just about to rise in the east. She got dressed and hurried to a nearby meadow and sat down. The grass was still covered by dew, but she didn't bothered. She enjoyed the rising sun. The sunbeams softly warmed her skin.  
  
A few minute before 7 o'clock a.m. an air-raid alarm started. She saw the three planes that caused the alarm. They flew on a course that meant no danger to Ruki so she just watched them. She was rather surprised when she noticed that they didn't drop a single bomb.  
  
As the planes were out of sight she started walking towards the Industrial Promotion Hall.  
She had used to show up there exactly at 8 o'clock neither a minute earlier nor later, but she somehow had the feeling that she was running out of time so she hurried up.  
  
She arrived there 10 minutes earlier. She was the first who arrived there. She sat down on the stairway of the Industrial Promotion Hall. She closed her eyes and her thoughts began to wander.  
'When will this all end, I'm so…'  
  
"Hello Ruki. How are you?" Ryo said smiling faintly. He had stepped in front of her without being noticed. Ruki slowly opened her eyes, without showing any sign of surprise.  
"Hello Ryo. I'm fine or I even hope I am. How are you?" Ruki asked looking into his eyes.  
"I'm still alive, that's more than I expected last night when I hurried once again for the air-raid shelter." Ryo said, depressed. "A bomb nearly destroyed our house. It was a dud, but if it exploded I would be dead now." Ryo was on the verge of tears. "One of Commander Yamaki's teams deactivated it early in the morning."  
Ruki had a very certain feeling that to hug Ryo was the thing to do and so she did. Ryo found a bit solace in her friend's arms.  
"Thank you Ruki." Ryo said in a faint voice.  
"You're welcome." Ruki replied laying her hand on his shoulder.  
"Ruki there is something I have to tell you. Ruki, I …" Ryo nearly whispered, before he was interrupted by one of his friends that approached them.  
  
"Hey Ryo, Ruki!" Takato shouted.  
"We meet in 15 minutes at the Motoyasu Bridge. Okay?" Ryo whispered.  
"Okay." Ruki replied. "Hello Takato, Jenrya, Juri." Ruki greeted her arriving friends.  
Takato showed them a picture he drew recently.  
  
It was dragon rising behind the Fuji-san.  
"And where is the red sun?" Ruki asked teasing.  
"He is the red sun." Takato replied proud of having so much depth in his picture.  
  
After about ten minutes first Ryo, then Ruki left their friends.  
Both met up again at the Motoyasu Bridge a few minutes later.  
Ryo watched the Motoyasu River. His forearm laid on the railing of the bridge.  
"So Ryo, what is it what you need to tell me so urgent?"  
  
It was the 6th of August 1945 at a quarter past eight. It was a bright summer morning in Hiroshima.  
  


~*~ Let all the souls here rest in peace; for we shall not repeat the evil. ~*~

In honour of those who died in World War II.


End file.
